Abstract

A Maryland water utility is suing an alleged cartel of chemical makers for supposedly conspiring to fix prices of the water treatment chemical aluminum sulfate, costing it millions of dollars. Aluminum sulfate, also known as alum, is a flocculant, meaning it is added to drinking water and wastewater to make minute particles stick together so they can be filtered out. Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), which serves 475,000 Maryland customers just outside of Washington, D.C., filed suit on Oct. 19 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, charging that seven alum makers—including General Chemical, Chemtrade Chemicals, Geo Specialty Chemicals, and Kemira—rigged bids and allocated customers among themselves between 1997 and 2011. WSSC says the scheme raised prices it and other U.S. utilities paid for alum through 2016. At least 68 other civil suits based on alum price-rigging allegations have been filed in federal court to recoup costs, WSSC

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